Accused’s DNA found on crime scene

A forensic analyst testifying at the trial of six men accused of the murder of an elderly Theescombe couple in 2009 told the court one of the accused’s DNA had been found on several swabs taken from exhibits found at the crime scene, notes a report in The Herald.

Warrant Officer Tania Cunningham of the Forensic Science Laboratory in Cape Town told the Eastern Cape High Court (Port Elizabeth) that Makwenke Lunga Pamle’s DNA had been found, while the other five accused had been excluded as donors for the DNA found at the scene. Pamle (24) and five others are all facing charges of housebreaking with intent to rob, robbery, murder, kidnapping and rape. The state alleges the men are responsible for the attack on George Venter (78) and his wife Jacoba (67) in their home in May 2013. However, the lawyer representing Pamle tried to poke holes in Cunningham’s testimony, saying the evidence could have been tampered with while en route to Cape Town from Port Elizabeth. He put it to Cunningham that she only received the DNA evidence after a chain of people had also conducted other forms of analysis on it. Cunningham said she could not testify about the evidence before she received it. She said while there was a different analyst conducting each of the evaluations, she insisted that the evidence had not been tampered with. ‘There were no mistakes in this case.’